“In Spite of the Storm, I Saw Bright Spots”: School Counselors Experiences During COVID-19

Abstract

In spring 2022, we conducted a phenomenological investigation on the lived experiences of 12 U.S. school counselors during the COVID-19 global pandemic, triangulating individual interviews and participant drawings to gain a rich, thick, comprehensive account. We found that school counselors perceived their experiences during the pandemic as multifaceted and complex, composed of intertwining initial and ongoing challenges and growth or positives that emerged in the face of crisis and loss. Participants reported these findings across multiple areas of their lives: personal, professional, and at the K–12 educational/societal level. We discuss results within the lens of shared trauma and posttraumatic growth, providing implications for school counselors as they work within the current “new normal” and reverberating impacts of a global pandemic.